Russell Sparks New Era for the Pops

It was a new day at the Cincinnati Pops Friday night at Music Hall and the orchestra celebrated with everything from a street party to the world premiere of “The Launch” by Pete Anthony.

Most of all it was JMR, John Morris Russell, worthy successor to the late Erich Kunzel as Cincinnati Pops conductor.  Russell, 51, associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops from 1995-2006, greeted his listeners personally, not only onstage but outside on Elm Street as part of the “Pop-up Party,” held before the concert (and both repeats this weekend).  He mixed with the crowd, beaming, shaking hands and signing JMR “baseball” cards.

One look at the stage told the story.  There was a new “Pops” sign -- the word “Pops” framed by a pair of arching white stars -- which stood out boldly against Music Hall’s cream-colored acoustical towers (the old sign is being donated to the American Sign Museum, located in Cincinnati).

Dubbed “That’s Entertainment,” the program, which included the May Festival Chorus, was crafted to reflect the breadth of the pops genre, with jazz, Broadway, rock and film music, American song, etc.  Both guest artists, Broadway great Brian Stokes Mitchell and “American Idol” star Katharine McPhee, made their Cincinnati Pops debuts.

There were some surprises to get things started.  Carrying forward the baseball analogy (“Come Play with the Pops” is the season slogan), former Cincinnati City Councilman Jim Tarbell, in Oktoberfest attire, “threw out the first trumpet” to Russell (Russell was a trumpeter at Williams College).  Following “The Star Spangled Banner,” Russell himself sang the first verse of “That’s Entertainment,” which brought high-jumping Bob Herzog (channel 12) and a pair of jugglers on stilts out of the wings.

After leading a rousing “Strutter’s Ball” by early jazz composer Shelton Brooks, Russell introduced McPhee, who offered a sultry “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and a searching “Somewhere” from “West Side Story.”  Mitchell showed off his dark, handsome baritone in “Some Enchanted Evening” from “South Pacific,” then thumbed the pages of the Great American Songbook with a Gershwin medley, “s’Wonderful,” “I Got Rhythm,” “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” and “Our Love is Here to Stay.” 

The Chorus’ rendition of “The Promise of Living” from Copland’s opera “The Tender Land” made a gentle transition to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” in a colorful, brassy arrangement by Pops guitarist Timothy Berens.

Russell’s stand partner in the jazz band at Williams was Pete Anthony, now a busy orchestrator/conductor/composer in Hollywood. “The Launch” is a winning score, firmly in the space epic/adventure film mode.  It begins with a fanfare, then rises in pitch and volume, including wordless chorus, to the central portion of the work, where solos by clarinet and trumpet build to an energetic march.  “Pete, you rock, man,” said Russell to Anthony, who took a bow from his seat in the audience.

Mitchell returned to bring the crowd to their feet with a soaring “Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha”).  This sparked a witty “Anything You Can Do” (“Annie Get Your Gun”) with McPhee, who proceeded to strut her stuff proudly in “Brand New Key” and her, by now trademark, “Over the Rainbow.”

There was a 1970s tribute with Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” given a gospel edge by the Chorus.  Berens showed himself a gifted arranger once again in Joe Zawinul’s jazz fusion classic “Birdland” (Weather Report). It was Mitchell’s turn to bring the house down again with his “favorite song,” “Wheels of a Dream” from “Ragtime” (by University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music graduate Stephen Flaherty).  The encore was “America the Beautiful,” sung by the entire company, as an American flag descended behind the “Pops” logo.  The final flourish was a multi-colored a confetti drop.

What Russell has shown here, for a new generation, is the strength and versatility of symphonic pops.  As Kunzel demonstrated before him, the Pops can do anything.

The concert repeats at 8 p.m. tonight, 2 p.m. Sunday at Music Hall.  Tickets from $25.  “Pop-up” Parties begin an hour and a half before each concert on Elm Street outside Music Hall.  Call 513-381-3300, or visit www.cincinnatipops.org.

(first published in The Cincinnati Enquirer, Sept. 18, 2011)